Oakland Park Bracing For Election Fallout

New Commissioners Planning To Oust Manager From Office

OAKLAND PARK - — The morning after two new city commissioners were elected, City Manager Robert "Skip" Johnston told city staffers what they already suspected: They will soon have a new boss.

Though his name was not on the ballot, Johnston lost big in Tuesday's heated City Commission election. He expects to be fired after Robert Joynt and Rosemary Sachs take office Wednesday and forge a new majority with Commissioner Robert Sproc.

Joynt, Sachs and Charles Tiedje, who lost in the election, ran as a slate, vowing to reform city government. Sproc, one of Johnston's harsh critics, backed the slate. All belong to Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, where pastor D. James Kennedy urges conservative Christians to become active in politics to restore biblical values to America.

Sproc could not be reached for comment, but Joynt and Sachs said they will vote to fire Johnston. The new commissioners also promise a number of other changes. Among them:

-- replacing city administrators. Sachs wants to remove City Attorney D.J. Doody. Sachs and Joynt said they support changes in police and fire department leadership. The commission can only fire the city manager and attorney. Other administrators are hired and fired by the city manager.

-- considering privatizing solid waste removal. Sproc said he has wanted to explore eliminating the city's solid waste department, which has 21 employees, and hiring a private garbage hauler.

Joynt and Sachs are expected to support a privatization study. They each accepted $250 donations from All Service Refuse, a Fort Lauderdale garbage hauler that could seek the city's business if solid waste is privatized.

-- eliminating a weight-based garbage system for condominiums and businesses, which bills customers based on the weight of their garbage.

-- overhauling a merit pay system Johnston implemented in 1995. The pay plan, which links pay raises to work performance, is opposed by the police union.

Though the new commissioners take office Wednesday, it is unclear when they will start implementing their promises.

"The first thing we want to do is clean our house, get things done right, get some people in there we Johnston

know we can count on and people we know are going to make a difference with the various departments in our town," Sachs said.

Sachs said she would support Tiedje for city manager. Joynt said he is not sure it would be a good idea, since Tiedge has no city management experience. Tiedje declined to say whether he would seek the job.

Joynt said he would prefer to study the issues before making big decisions.

"I don't want to be a bull going into a china shop," he said. "I don't want to see Oakland Park become what it has been in the past [a laughingstock). I want to avoid that at all costs."

Johnston's anticipated removal is indicative of the Oakland Park's political instability - the city has had five city managers in five years. Johnston has been in the job since November 1994.

The likelihood that Johnston will be fired has created a small problem for the Broward County City/County Management Association. Johnston is slated to become its president this week.

"He's a terrific guy and a terrific manager," said Wilton Manors City Manager Bob Levy, the association's outgoing president. "He has really moved Oakland Park forward. That may not be what they want to hear, but it's true. The city was in a lot of chaos before he got there."

As much as Johnston is liked by his peers and trusted by commissioners Steve Arnst and Caryl Stevens, he is disliked by Sproc, who did not support many policies of the old commission majority.

"He's made it clear on numerous occasions that he didn't like their votes that I translated into administration, into action," Johnston said. "I think we do have some rather significant leadership differences."

Johnston, who is paid $88,000 annually, has the right to request a public hearing if he is suspended as a prelude to firing. He said his action will depend on how the commission presents his ouster to the public.

"I don't have any problem with their authority to dismiss me or their intention to do so, but I am darn well not going to allow myself to be accused of things I didn't do or somehow let them leave an impression in the public's mind that I haven't been an excellent city manager," he said.

The new majority has promised to lower taxes and scrutinize the city's finances, but Arnst said he fears for the city's future.

"I think it's going to be a tough couple of years," he said. "And in two years, someone's going to have to come in and clean up the mess."

Arnst said he worries about the new commission ignoring infrastructure needs, depleting the city's contingency funds and bowing to the fire and police unions' demands for higher wages.

The unions contributed several hundred dollars to Joynt's and Sach's campaigns.